Helping the Tornado Victims in Moore, OK

Many of us feel a need to help in some tangible way. You are discouraged from self-deploying, or simply going down to help out. Quite frankly, you’ll most like just be in the way and become part of the problem.

The very best way to help is to pray! Pray for the ongoing rescue effort. Pray for the families who lost loved ones. Pray for the first responders and volunteers. Pray for God to be glorified in this tragedy.

In lieu of going, you can give. Everyone knows that the Red Cross provides meals to those in need during disasters. But did you know that the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief  (OK DR) is the organization that PREPARES a majority (if not all) of those meals?

OK DR is a volunteer based organization, but without the high priced CEOs that some of the relief organizations have been criticized for. The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma pays the modest salary of the director of OK DR, which is provided by Oklahoma Baptists.

When you give to OK DR, you can rest assured that 100% of your donation goes to relief efforts. Give at this link: http://www.okdisasterhelp.com/

Here in Wagoner, if you’d like to give goods, First Baptist Church is collecting items to give to victims.  They are currently asking for  bottled water, diapers, baby formula and baby wipes, and toiletries. Do not bring clothes!

Rather than duplicate the efforts of collecting and distributing, Immanuel Southern will be cooperating with FBC Wagoner. They are located at 401 NE 2nd, Wagoner, OK 74467.  Their phone is 918-485-2428.

If you’d like to go and physically do “hands-on” ministry, you are probably out of luck for this disaster.   Most disaster relief agencies, including OK DR,  require training. What you can do, however, is sign up with a disaster relief agency and be ready the next time a disaster strikes. Unfortunately, you probably won’t have to wait very long.

Wagoner Tornado was EF-2 not EF-0

I saw on the news tonight where the tornado that struck Wagoner Saturday night was actually an EF-2! I had no idea! KOTV reported that it was on the ground for 4.4 miles.

Wagoner Tornado Damage (Photo by Kellie Jennings)

The Storm Prediction Center details the Enhanced Fujita Scale 2 (EF-2) has having winds between 113 and 157 mph and describes the possibility of "considerable damage."

For more information about tornadoes, go to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center's (SPC) Online Tornado FAQ.

Further information about this actual tornado can be found at the National Weather Service site.

Wagoner Tornado Damage

A small tornado struck along 15th street in Wagoner, OK, May 24, 2011. Here are a few pictures:

June 8, 1974

The eighth day of June in 1974 was a day that started like any other.  I remember it quite well, however, because of what happened later that day.

It was barely a month before my 10th birthday, and we lived in Sapulpa, OK.  Our home was in a fairly new addition, Southern Hills, also called "Ford Hill" because Ellis Easterling, the local Ford dealer, was the developer.

I'm fairly sure it was a Saturday.  Our family had gone to John F. Lahon Furniture in Tulsa to buy some kitchen chairs.

On the way back home, the sky turned green.  I remember being scared of the weather, even though I didn't really know what was going on.

When we arrived home, we hurriedly put the chairs in the house then got in our car and drove to Pleasant Manor Nursing Home, where my grandmother was administrator and part owner.  Only being nearly 10 at the time, I wasn't aware of all that was going on, but we were told we were going to "calm down the residents".

I remember talking with them and playing the piano for them.  I remember the storm being quite severe outside.

Finally, calm returned and so did we. 

At home, we found our boat and playhouse both turned over.  The trash cans had been blown into the street.  Mother had a fake tree on our front porch (a "poodle" tree) and it was blown over as well.

A tornado had gone through.  We were very fortunate.  Less than a mile from our house was my elementary school, Lone Star.  It took a direct hit from the tornado and completely destroyed part of it, especially the gym and cafeteria.  The classroom in which I was to have sought shelter had been completely destroyed, with the heavy cement blocks all falling inward where my entire class would have been hunkered down.

Repairs went on all summer and school started a little late that fall.  I remember waiting in line for the cafeteria.  The line stretched into the gymnasium.  The floor was still buckled and twisted, rising more than 10 feet in the air.

In October or November of that year, I found one of the letters of "Lone Star" that detached during the storm.  It was all the way out by the road, in the edge of the fence.  I remember taking it to our principal with an air of accomplishment.  He thanked me and told me that it would save them having to completely re-do and re-order the words for the name of the school.

So, for 36 years now, June 8th has been a significant date for me.  I'll always remember it as the day the tornado destroyed my school.

Stormy Weather

Wednesday evening, a huge front moved through Oklahoma spawning 17 tornadoes.  Thankfully, many of them were F1 with winds not exceeding 105 mph.

The Emergency Alert System was activated on our cable TV interrupting programming on all channels.  I took a picture of the alert with my cell phone camera. The quality is very poor.

This is the radar image on CBS Tulsa Affiliate KOTV Channel 6.  We didn't get to watch CSI, but at one point there were 7 counties in the viewing area with current tornado warnings! Even for Oklahoma, that is a big deal. I took another picture of the TV image with my cell phone.

Here in Wagoner, we had a gust front with winds of 40-50 mph but, once again, the storms went around us.

Crazy Weather

The above image is a screen shot I took from KOTV's website. It shows a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, a tornado watch, a blizzard watch, a flash flood watch, and a winter storm watch ALL IN THE SAME VIEWING AREA!!

They tell us to expect up to 6 inches of snow tomorrow, even though right now it is 60 degrees today.

Gotta love Oklahoma.

Crazy Oklahoma Weather

Here is the 11:29 radar capture from Channel 6 in Tulsa. Thunderstorm warnings, hail, and blizzards all in the same state at the same time. This doesn't include the Winter Weather Warnings and Winter Weather Watches, nor the Tornado and Thunderstorm watches, either!

Out where we went on our Spring Break trip last week, they are having white-out conditions from the blizzard. Temps are supposed to drop here all day long and we could end up with 1-3 inches of snow tomorrow morning. Just to the north of here, there could be up to 15 inches of snow!

Oklahoma! Gotta love it!

The Round Barn

The Round Barn in Arcadia, Oklahoma

I have heard about the "Round Barn" all of my life, but had never seen it until this trip. It is an icon along Route 66. It was built in 1898 in Arcadia, Oklahoma. It is 60' in diameter and 45' in height. It was built round to help withstand Oklahoma tornadoes!

Small Town Livin'

There are still simple pleasures in living in a small town. One of them is the one-chair barber shop!


Jerry Luellen is my barber. While he isn't like "Floyd the barber" in Mayberry, the shop sure does remind you of that! His price sheet reads only: "Haircut $8.00- Long Hair $10.00"



The shop is open Wed-Sat. Jerry opens for business at 8:00 am. There are six seats for waiting. Retired men occupy the seats and fill the room with talk about the weather (big topic of conversation today with all those tornadoes in the State last night) and local goings-on.

You don't get a cup of cappuccino nor do you get your hair shampooed with a nice relaxing scalp massage like in Chiang Mai or China. But the eight bucks transports you back to a more simple time and place, when no one was in a hurry, and everyone knew everyone else's business and was concerned about everyone else's troubles.

Rare December Tornado Strikes Tulsa Area

Tornado Damage in Wagoner County

A rare December tornado struck in Broken Arrow, a suburb of Tulsa, late Monday night. There was no tornado warning, but no one was injured. About 1000 people were without electricity Tuesday, including an elementary school. Damage was limited, but moderate in the affected area. More than two dozen homes received damage.

Representatives from the National Weather Service did not determine that there was actually a tornado until sometime on Tuesday. They rated it as an EF-1 with wind speeds at 110 mph.

The tornado touched down approximately 25 miles WNW of Wagoner but actually occurred in Wagoner County. This was the first tornado in December for the Tulsa area since 1982.

(Tuesday night, we had a winter weather advisory with icy roads and bridges)

GUSTAV!!

That's right! We here in "land-locked" Oklahoma are going to experience a bit of "Gustav". It certainly won't be anything like what TX, LA, MS are experiencing, but then again, Wagoner is 500 miles inland!

We are under Flood Warnings already. The forecast calls for 4-8 inches of rain, and possibly more, depending on exactly how the northern front interacts with Gustav. There is a strong chance of strong winds, large hail, and even a "tornado outbreak". (We don't like to hear "tornado outbreak!")

Pray for those in the South adversely effected by Gustav.

Tornado Sirens

Last night, we had a strong storm front move through Wagoner. We were under a tornado warning and the sirens were sounded. No tornado hit Wagoner, although I did capture video of the main gust front with straight-line winds of around 60 mph. If you want to hear the sirens, you'll need to move to 4:20 in the video.

Tulsa Air & Space Museum

OK, before you start getting all snitty about Tulsa having a space program, you need to realize a few things: Tulsa has been involved with the space INDUSTRY since the Apollo program. In fact, my wife's father worked on Apollo One - Apollo Four RIGHT THERE IN TULSA! McDonald-Douglas also completed work on the Space Shuttle Cargo Bay Doors.

Emily's class took a field trip to the Tulsa Air & Space Museum last Tuesday. I wasn't even aware of its existence, but all I can say is "Wow! What a museum!" I'd encourage anyone around Tulsa to take a day and go to the museum and planetarium.


Getting off the buses.


Emily in the cockpit of a USAF trainer.


Emily & friends in a tornado simulator (at 78.8 mph)


Emily was selected to be part of the Space Shuttle Launch Team.


Here is her class & teachers with the museum docent.

No Snow in Wagoner

Well, not at least to write about. With all the hoopla yesterday about 4-10 inches of snow, we missed the bullet. There was a band of snow all around our area, but we were left with only a trace. Just 15 miles to the west of us in Coweta, they had to cancel school because they got about 8 inches!

This has been a very strange weather pattern, anyway. Last Sunday night, our county was under a Wind Advisory, Flood Watch, Tornado Watch, Thunderstorm Watch, and a Winter Storm Watch ALL AT THE SAME TIME! It was 75 or so Saturday afternoon and 20 this morning.

Gotta love Oklahoma!

Union University

Union University was struck by a tornado on Feb 5, 2008. We know at least one student there. Pray for their recovery efforts and pray for the students, that they could "get past" this hard event in their lives.

Close Call

Last night at 11:52, we had a funnel go over Wagoner. A funnel is different than a tornado. A tornado touches the ground; a funnel extends down from the clouds, but hasn't touched down yet. It was pretty nerve wracking watching the warnings on TV and not knowing whether or not I should wake up the kids and get us all to the hallway.

However, modern meteorological technology is so advanced, I could follow the track of the funnel and see that it was actually 1 1/2 miles to the west of us, on the other side of Hwy 69! So, I let the kids sleep.

Phewwww!

Weather Update III

They are tracking on radar rotation in a cell about 15 miles sw of Wagoner moving this way. They have issued a tornado warning for this rotation, although an actual funnel hasn't been confirmed.

It is really storming right now. The thunder is really something to hear. The TV weather guys keep going on and on about how weird this is for January. They said the last time we had a tornado in January was 1970.

There are currently 10 counties in the viewing area under tornado warnings. This, indeed, is something out of the ordinary.

Current Radar Image

This is the current radar image for 8:40 pm.

Weather Update II

Wagoner County is now under a tornado warning until 9 pm. I think they are tracking rotation that is in the extreme southeastern part of the county. Not too far from where my folks live. It looks like they might be in its path.

There are now 9 counties in KOTV's viewing area under tornado warning. An additional 5 counties are under severe thunderstorm warnings. Yikes.

Weather Update

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Wagoner County. The heavens opened up and we are now in the middle of the storm. It appears that the tornadoes are still going to be going East of us.

Travis Meyer of KOTV 6 in Tulsa indicated that a PDS (Potential for Dangerous Storms) has been issued for NEOK which, at least in his career, hasn't ever been issued in Oklahoma for January. They are calling this a very strange, rare, meteorological event.